Language Variation

What is language variation concerned with?

Language Variation

Diatypes: variation according to use

Dialects: variation according to user

Characteristics of use

• Purpose (Functional tenor)• Field (Domain)• Style (Personal tenor)• Medium

Since we have already looked at this, we will move on to dialectal variation.

How does dialect variation fit into the area of AL?

One of the ways in which we can “apply” linguistics is to use our insights into the structure and function of language as a coded system to observe the ways in which people understand themselves, to see what groups they identify with as seen by the ways in which they use language.

Sociolinguistics

This is a branch of linguistics dealing with the relationship between social features of users and features of their language variety.

Hypothesis

Language use is a matter of (mutual) accommodation. By observing what groups a speaker accommodates to most strongly, we can make conclusions about this speaker’s social identity.

Terminology

lect: dialectdialect: language variation by user characteristics

such as region, class, age, gender, ethnicity; by itself the word “dialect” is usually understood as regional dialect; lects include social dialects(a.k.a. sociolects), gender dialects(genderlects), and ethnic dialects(ethnolects) Note: StE is the standard dialect.

sociolect: variation typical of a social classethnolect: variation typical of an ethnic group, e.g.

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)

Sample no. 1

“Hoo!” quod the Knyght, “good sire, namoore of this!That ye han seyd is right enough, ywis,And muchel moore; for litel hevynesseIs right enough to muche folk, I gesse.

“Hoo!” quod the Knyght, “good sire, namoore of this!

That ye han seyd is right enough, ywis,And muchel moore; for litel hevynesseIs right enough to muche folk, I gesse.

G. Chaucer. Prologue of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale

Ho, my good sir, no more! exclaimed the Knight.What you have said so far no doubt is right,And more than right, but still a little griefWill do for most of us in my belief.

Sample no. 2

Oh dear, you’ve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again.

Sample no. 3

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,Great chieftain o’ the pudding-race!Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace

As lang’s my arm

General English (GenE)

General English (GenE) includes both standard and non-standard forms of English, but excludes traditional dialectsand English-oriented creoles. The widespread use of double or multiple negation or 3rd person singular don’t(he don’t like it) are GenE, though not StE.

Standard English (StE)

Standard English (StE) is the type of English associated with better education and often with MC manners (avoidance of slang and swear words); standards vary, however, from country or region to country or region.

Traditional dialect

Traditional dialect refers to any non-standard regional dialect which derives directly from the dialects of Old English and which does not stand in a one-to-one phonological, syntactic, and lexical relationship to GenE, e.g. one of the Lowland Scots dialects.

Non-standard English

Non-standard English includes types of English not conforming to the vocabulary or grammar of StE; this can be GenE, a traditional dialect, or an English-orientedcreole.

AccentAccent refers to pronunciation only (and not grammar or lexis). There are a large number of standard accents, i.e. ones accepted as models for imitation and they are usually regionally based. These include Received Pronunciation (RP) in England, Scottish Standard English in Scotland (SSE), General American (GenAm) in North America, and General Australian.

The relationship between GenE, StE and the traditional dialects

Levels of dialectal variation

• Pronunciation• Grammar (syntax and

morphology)• Vocabulary• Pragmatics

Pronunciation

GenAus ~ GenAm ~ RP

about[bæt] ~ [bt] ~ [bat]

motor[md] ~ [modr] ~ [mt]

Grammar

StE you must eat it up

Traditional Dialect a m r t tn(north of England)

Creole j ms ’njam ’af(Jamaican Creole)

VocabularyAlternative terms illustrating the difficulty of producing a recipe understandable for American, Australian, British,

and New Zealand users

For an entrée / main course, serve lamb with ears / cobs ofcorn and a Caesar salad made from 1 head romain / coslettuce, 2 slices / rashers of broiled / grilled bacon, and 2hard-cooked / hard-boiled eggs.

Wrap lamb cutlets / chops in parchment / baking-paper or(aluminum / aluminium / tin) foil with a little broth / stock tocut down on calories / kilojoules. Bake on an oven tray /baking sheet at 350°C / 175°F / Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes.

PragmaticsCertain social-psychological situations seem to influence language maintenance among the bilinguals. One of the respondents [among a group of fifteen Swahili informants] said that whenever he argued with his bilingual wife he would maintain Swahili as much as possible while she would maintain English. A possible explanation is that Swahili norms and values assign different roles to husband and wife (socially more clear cut?) from the English norms and values (socially less clear cut? more convergence of roles?). Maintaining one language or the other could then be a device for asserting one's desired role.

The major dimensions of socialvariation

• Region / Nation• Class / Education• Gender• Ethnicity• Age

Regional / National VariationStone the crows, sports, but with no more bobsy-die than a dag-picking bushyclaiming compo from out in the boo-ay, the sticky-beaks of the Oxford University Press have been taking a squiz at Aussie and Enzed slang. They've now published a beaut new supplement to the Pocket Oxford Dictionary - 1200 dinkydi words and expressions which are certainly giving the chooms something to chiack at.

Stone the crows, sports, but with no more bobsy-die than a dag-picking bushyclaiming compo from out in the boo-ay, the sticky-beaks of the Oxford University Press have been taking a squiz at Aussie and Enzed slang. They've now published a beaut new supplement to the Pocket Oxford Dictionary - 1200 dinkydi words and expressions which are certainly giving the chooms something to chiack at.

stone the crows - expression of surprisesports - 'guys'bobsy-die - 'fuss, panic'dag-picking - 'sorting the wool from the dags'dag - 'wool around a sheep's hindquarters, often dirty with mud and excreta'bushy - 's.o. from the countryside, from the bush'compo - 'worker's compensation'boo-ay - 'backblocks, remote country district'sticky-beaks - 'priers, meddlers'squiz - 'a look'beaut - 'fine, good'dinkydi - 'true, honest, genuine'choom - 'English person' (variant of chum)chiach - 'jeer, taunt, deride, tease'

ClassU and Non-U.“U” stands for “Upper Class. It is said that the adjective appalling is U, as are absolutely and brill as well as Rod's (for Harrod's).

U Non-Uice ice-creamlavatory toiletlooking glass mirrorpudding sweet, dessertscent perfumescurf dandruffsick illtable napkin serviettewriting paper notepaper

Gender

What an adorable sweater!That’s a terrific idea!How sweet of you to do that!You did a super job on that!

Ethnicity

AAVE vs. StE

Ain’t no guy gonna take no sass off you.

Nobody’s going to put up with your impertinence.

Age

Baby Talk: consonant simplification, reduplication, intonationalquestions, 3rd person for first person, e.g.

• Oo want go pee-pee?• Let Mommy feel your tum-tum.

Homework exercise no. 11. Identify each of the following texts by giving the dimension of variation in each which

strikes you most. What exactly is the basis for your decision? a. Isn’t he cute / adorable baby!

Well, he’s quite a nice-looking baby!

b. 24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.

c. 24Subtract line 23 from line 22. If zero or less, stop. You cannot take the credit.

Exception. If you paid 2002 expenses in 2003, see the instructions for line 9.

d. Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know.

e. “Do you know how long I worked to find you`?” he shouted.“Who me?”“How often do you move? First I asked at the church. Everyone knew you, but

they didn’t know where you lived.”

2a. Test your knowledge of AmE and BrE

A. Concept AmE BrE(For convenience given in German)FederbettHandyMüllPony (Frisur)rote BeeteSchnauze!Halts Maul!SchnitzerSozialhilfeVolltanken!zweiter Stock

2b. Test your knowledge of AmE and BrE

B. Word AmE BrEchapelchips (potato)fagknock upmickeynoshsurgurytwitvet

Exercise no. 3: U and Non-U

Which is U and which is Non-U?U Non-U

America The Statescake pastryhelping portionice ice-creamlavatory toiletill sicksettee sofaglasses spectaclesserviette table napkinradio wirelessnotepaper writing paper